Lëon OEM+

[jamiebennett81]

Standard spec:

Standard spec:

2001 Black magic Seat Leon Cupra
Full black leather interior
Electric front seats
Electric folding mirrors
Electric windows all round
rain sensitive wipers
Auto dimming rear view mirror
Any other usual extra's

Modifications:

Engine

K03 hybrid turbo - Built by CR Turbo's (basically a ported K03 mated to a K04)
K04 MAF housing
Forge Actuator
Forge TIP
Forge DV
Green cone filter
Braided fuel lines
Audi R8 petrol cap
Pro Alloy FMIC
Blueflame oval turbo back exhaust
Decat
3" Downpipe
Stage 3 clutch
Carbon fibre coil pack cover
Hitachi bolt down coil packs
Crackle black intake manifold
Crackle black charge pipe
Forge coolant pipes
Satin black cam cover
Various anodised connectors
Saikou Catch Can
N249 removal
Forge SAI blanking plate and SAI system removed
Carbon canister removed
Braided fuel hoses
Custom one off cold air filter
Supersize SFS TIP
Devils Own progressive water meth injection kit

Power
Mapped 291bhp & 287lbft
13.4 1/4 mile @ 108mph (GTI International at Shakespeare way 2013)

Handling

KW V1 coilovers
Neuspeed 25mm front ARB
Neuspeed 28mm rear ARB
330mm Brembo's
Raceland Chassis strut brace

Styling

HID's 6000k
18" Oz Superleggera alloys
3m carbon wrapped bump strips
3m carbon wrapped spoiler
Front grill cut out to show the very large PA FMIC
One fog light removed for 100mm CAI
Front number plate cut out
Crash bar drilled
Leon Cupra R rear spoiler


Interior

Auto gauge black faced boost gauge
Nomad single pillar pod
Fully stripped interior
Corbeau pro series fixed back bucket seat
3" 5 point harnesses
6 speed quick shift
Alloy racing battery tray
0 AWG battery wire
All sound deadening, carpets, plastics, roof lining, door cards and seats removed


The Story so far

There are a few issues....

The turbo was making a sound when I bought her, and I was aware of this when I bought her, almost a squeeling sound on boost around 4000rpm - This has now been fixed with a new turbo

She is still in a bit of a mess at the mo,

Here is how she looked a while back

 

[jamiebennett81]

When I got the car back (I sold it, then bought her back) the guy had made a right royal mess of it.

This is the story of her coming back to her former glory....mostly sat out the back of my old house slowly slowly doing bits and pieces

A stark contrast to the leon in her former glory, this was her current state outside the car

 

[jamiebennett81]

one more of her in her minging state

next up was taking the turbo off....what a pain in the ***

The moon spanners were ok, but still I could not get enough leverage and they were slightly too long. So I ordered a set of stubby spanners off ebay. Despite the better leverage the bolts were not budging

So I sprayed a load of WD40 and Brake cleaner and left them to soak for about 3-4 days

In the mean time I started removing other parts off the engine

 

[Prawn]

I like this car

I have done a few bits and bobs on it this year to help out, it's very good. very fast too, much faster than 291bhp should be!!!!

 

[jamiebennett81]

I then finally got the turbo off. The stubby spanners were a god send, and a good few days with soaking the bolts, I managed to get them loose

Trying to remove the turbo is a pig in general, even when you have all the bolts off, you have to undo and remove the actuator to be able to move and pull the turbo out as space is so tight

Here is what the turbo looked like when it came off.....not in a pretty state to say the least

Cracked hotside, right through the wastegate

One of the faults with the turbo was upon 4000rpm, it was making a horrendous scraping sound and I can see why now

There was a lot of play in the shaft, and the compressor wheel has been scraping on the inlet for sometime, from the worn down blades and the scarring across the inlet

 

[jamiebennett81]

So while the turbo was off, it was time to start on spraying up the engine bits and pieces

Starting with the charge pipe, I got some etch primer

Black wrinkle paint

 

[jamiebennett81]

time for a quick wash

then after washing her, a good claying, and it got a lot worse after this. Seems there is quite a lot of contaminants on the paint work so I will have to look into this later

Victoria concours wax

shiny

 

[jamiebennett81]

With the car now 11 years old, and when removing the TIP, there was alot of oil in it. Part of this was due to the complete failure of the turbo, but also a lot of oil was blowing about from the head leading into the TIP....and other pipes so not good

I organised a group buy and got this. 19mm inlet and outlet (cheap ebay crap only go to 17mm)

also placed an order with www.hosequip.co.uk yesterday for some 19mm ID hosing, so I can start mounting this in the engine bay (somewhere...!)

While part of its return to glory, I want to go a bit hardcore with it, and shed a lot of its weight, so out came the interior

I had to take out all the seats anyway, because the ****** car door is leaking, and there was a lot of moisture inside the car to the point where there was mould growing so before these became wrecked, they are now safely being stored in my garage

Puddle of water in the drivers side

Some of the sound deadening. Absolute pig to remove and weighed a tonne. Especially the soaking wet bits

 

[jamiebennett81]

More wrinkle paint arrived

High tensile bolts and nordloc washers from Bill Brockbank at www.badger5.co.uk

So the turbo went off to CR Turbo's to be fully rebuilt. Original K03 hybrid spec with 360 thrust bearing, RS6 clipped compressor wheel, uprated turbine, oil seals and enlargened inlet as well

Now it was time to start tidying up some other bits on the engine bay

Before:

During:

Dirty throttle body

After:

 

[jamiebennett81]

The inlet was also a mess, so I decided to clean this up:

Before:

After:

Cleaned up the gasket as well

then decided to remove this, as it just looked an absolute mess and all rusty. It is the inlet manifold tray which hold the brake booster and VAC lines

With the TB off and the inlet manifold tray I started spraying these up:

At the start:

Sanded down the inlet manifold

Etched primered it

First coat of wrinkle paint

 

[jamiebennett81]

All the turbo parts arrived today, bolts, gaskets, oil filter etc and picked these up from Seat

My 19mm hosing arrived from <!-- m -->http://www.hosequip.co.uk<!-- m --> so I can make a start on my catch can. Going to take off a fuse box and relocate the wiring to the fuse cover next to it, to mount the catch can against the bulk head

I then did a bit of work on the car tonight

Finished ripping out all the crap in the boot, carpet, side panels and the plastic boot lid

I then found a nice glass bung that had been sitting in my draw for the best part of two years...which sits perfectly flush and very OEM

All the turbo parts arrived today, bolts, gaskets, oil filter etc and picked these up from Seat

Click this bar to view the full image.

My 19mm hosing arrived from <!-- m -->http://www.hosequip.co.uk<!-- m --> so I can make a start on my catch can. Going to take off a fuse box and relocate the wiring to the fuse cover next to it, to mount the catch can against the bulk head

I then did a bit of work on the car tonight

Finished ripping out all the crap in the boot, carpet, side panels and the plastic boot lid

This image has been resized. Click this bar to view the full image. The original image is sized 1008x674.

Parts from out of the car

This image has been resized. Click this bar to view the full image. The original image is sized 1008x674.

Took off the wiper and rear windscreen washer and it's now dewipered

Click this bar to view the full image.

I then found a nice glass bung that had been sitting in my draw for the best part of two years...which sits perfectly flush and very OEM

Sealed underneath (not pretty but it does the job)

I then sanded down and waxyoiled the drain hole in the floor, and refitted a new drain hole cover

I then took this off. It has been annoying me for ages, and it has seen better days, so I will be putting a nice green one on and cutting the pipe which it fits onto as it is far too long in the engine bay and looks silly

and finally the inlet manifold is almost done. Couple of patchy bits so needs a few more coats and it will be done

I then realised looking around the engine bay that there are quite a few rusty bolts. This bolt is part of a pair that holds the headlight on

I will be replacing a number of these bolts when I go to Seat on Saturday, as it just looks really untidy.

Next up is to take the wheels and arch liners out and start to properly seal all the arches. I also hoovered all the sodding leaves and crap that had been sitting on the scuttle panel for ages and looking a lot better. All the stupid stickers under the bonnet and around the engine bay will be going too

 

[jamiebennett81]

more copied over from my readers ride tomorrow....

 

[Dean_T]

Great read, quite a job you have taken on there, looking forward to the next installment

 

[dualmono21]

nice job great read jamie
im in the process of re-doing my original cupra now which ive owned from brand new
i have had similar issues with water ingress and the floor seals perishing , they are something like 30p each to buy from dealer
my car is taking a slightly differant path as its going to be used for a big old school car audio install
heres the current state of play

IMAG0470 by nathuk339, on Flickr

 

[jamiebennett81]

thanks guys

So I started some minor work on the car tonight. I wanted to clean the engine bay, but it pretty much juts froze as soon as I sprayed it on

Removed all the stupid stickers from the engine bay

Took out a small box which houses some cabling

Rerouted the cabling and need to buy the long plastic top which slides over this

Three rusty parts I am taking to Seat so they get the right bits. One bolt off the bracket for the headlights, the bolt and the metal clamp which holds the battery in.....well and truly foobarred

Had to call it a night, as where there is moisture on the inside of the rear window, had turned to ice

 

[jamiebennett81]

So I did some more work on the car tonight....and yes it was cold, but one good thing about these temps is it keeps your beer nice and cold

Jacked up

Lining removed. Absolutely bogging. Need to order all new lining bolts as they are rusted to hell. I will be cleaning the arches tomorrow with some snow foam and then some wheel cleaner for the coilovers, to remove all the built up dirt. Thankfully the KW's are in great condition still

Once the arches are clean and dry, then I will be waxyoiling the arches to properly seal them

Cheeky pic of the Neuspeed 25mm ARB

FMIC pipes which is one main reason the bumper is coming off, to replace the clamps (as Pro Alloy has put cheap crappy ones on) and check all the hoses for splits as the bumper has been rubbing against them for some time. The bumper also needs to be cut back

Had to call it a night, as come 21:30, temperatures were dropping quickly. It's ok working and I was building up quite a sweat, but as soon as you stop, you get cold very very quickly. Was -2 when I came in.

 

[jamiebennett81]

Work is slow and painful at the moment...with the cold and it getting dark so early

Managed to clean the arches tonight, and give the front wheels a good scrub along with the brembos. The wheels will need refurbing, as there is some seriously brake dust caked on which simply wont ****** shift

Snow foamed the arches

Gave the wheels a good soaking

Cleaned the arch (cleaned it a bit more after this). KW's have come up like new almost as well

Wheels have come up ok actually. Just pockets of brake dust right in the corners of the wheels

Leaving the arches to dry now and will start painting them with the waxyoil tomorrow or Wednesday night...and then the same again with the rear arches...then I can get the arch lining back on, and start with putting the turbo kit back on

Slow and Frustrating

 

[jamiebennett81]

Front arches now painted

Next up to remove front bumper...

 

[jamiebennett81]

so the work goes on despite the cold, I have been wanting to remove the front bumper for ages, and finally got round to it tonight

Bumper off...yes thats snow all over the car

You can't see it that well in this pic, but the samco is definitely kinked

Then I found this. Now the front bumper had a crack in it, but I thought that was the only damage...obviously not, and it was hiding this surprise for me

either tempted to take off the FMIC and get it rolled out, OR get a hammer and see if I can bang it out, but the risk of cracked the weld. I can fit the samco over the bent part, as past this dent the end tank goes back to being round...so does it cause that much of a problem, but being me, this will really bother me

I knew there was oil in the pipes, but there was quite a lot which spilled out. Another key reason why I wanted to pull this all apart to remove the oil

I wanted the bumper off, to be able to replace these with some proper tbolt clamps, as these have seen better days (cheap and nasty also)

Finally, now these are all off, the other phase is to cut the inside of the bumper back as its rubbing on the pipes. Pro Alloy also fitted some pretty ****ty hoses which are very soft, so these will be replaced with some decent blue forge ones

By this point its about -3 outside, so I called it a night....

 

[jamiebennett81]

thank god for this mild weather, so much easier to work on the car with

So now with the bumper off, I could separate the FMIC and the crash bar, ready for painting (just awaiting the paint to turn up....hopefully it will be here tomorrow)

FMIC During cleaning

Cleaned...about the best its going to get, but 99% of the dirt was off it, and its going to be sprayed black anyhow with special radiator paint

Dirty Crash bar

Clean Crash bar (debating whether to paint or seal this)

Decided to clean the front end also

Clean

These turned up today (apologies for the crap phone picture)

and I came across a very old pic of her

oh and essential fuel for working on the car

 

[jamiebennett81]

SO.....the paint arrived today, and so did my Forge actuator (despite being told it would take 2 weeks to arrive, it was delivered in a couple of days)

Special radiator paint, which does not clog the fins on the radiator like generic paint, so perfect for the FMIC. Got some more crinkle paint to finish off the mani, battery cover and charge pipe.

Also in the pic I got a small clamp, to clamp the fuel filter at some point.

Forge Actuator

Now for the FMIC

Before

First coat (patchy)

All that is left now is to buy some new nuts and bolts on the bumper to replace the rusty ones and then put it back together for springfest, tax and MOT...sounds simple (famous last words!!)

 

[jamiebennett81]

second coat tonight. Just gave it a third coat and she is good to go

got round to doing another little job tonight, cutting the bumper some more to stop it rubbing against the FMIC pipework

Cut (and sanded it back since)

I then noticed a crap load of oil still in the FMIC

So to try and get the last out of it, I have just turned it on its side and left it to drain, hopefully some might come out

Ordered the last parts from Seat today as well, so hopefully now all the parts are sprayed and ready for the engine bay, I can start putting it back together

Looks like it was worth sitting the FMIC on its side to drain it

leaving it to drain some more tonight as well

 

[jamiebennett81]

And ordered two smaller t bolt clamps for my TIP as my other ones were too big.

Ordered my 19mm T piece today as well for the catch can, and picking up the bumper bolts off Seat tomorrow morning

so...to solve this issue

I bought this today - £16 from Germany

Pipe expander 34-64mm

I could have just heated it up and hammered it back out, but I would have never of got a round finish to the end tank, and as this is where a hose is going to be connected, it needs to be in a decent round shape, so the hose grips properly and there are no leaks

 

[jamiebennett81]

so with the pipe shaper arriving, I got round to reforming the FMIC end tank

During

After - The end of it is not perfectly round, but it is a lot more round. You can't see it in the picture, but the centre of the pipe has now been properly reformed, and not at a sharp angle

While I was looking to get the oil filter off (which I couldn't do in the end...so thats another thing to do) I noticed this pipe had a massive dent in it, so as well as the previous owner denting the end tank on the FMIC, he managed to do this

Before

After - end is not perfect, but the centre has now been properly reformed as it was almost squashed in half

I then got round to mounting the FMIC and crash bar back on

Before

After:

 

[jamiebennett81]

Engine bay junk has now been binned. Engine bay looks so much tidier already with the SAI pump all removed, and the mass of old pipes underneath the manifold have been removed as well (major cause for boost leaks)

Now need to get a plate for this (Forge goodness on this way

I'm not a strong or experienced mechanic so all of this is a learning curve for me and the first time I have ever done stuff like this

 

[jamiebennett81]

So I thought I would get the FMIC pipework back on, and the bumper. I also got one arch liner back on, but need to get the arch liner clips from Seat to secure the lining

Also got the inlet mani back on the other night (it aint pretty, but its functional and black looking)

Fresh clean pipework

 

[jamiebennett81]

got round to doing a few bits tonight

dropped the car back on its wheels tonight for the first time in months

installed the catch can....although then released its sitting too high so I will have to remount this

Then installed the turbo, but Seat have given me the wrong sodding gasket from the turbo to mani

anyway, initially installed it for now, but not fully tightened

 

[jamiebennett81]

So a few bits that arrived over the past few day

Alu 19mm bung for the TIP

Billet Bitz M6 screws and blue tabs (these screw into the brackets which hold the head lights on)

Forge SAI blanking plate

And a cheeky shot of the bay coming back together (needs a clean!)

as all the piping from underneath the manni has been removed, the brake booster line needed to either be blocked or tidied up, so I bought some 12mm piping to make it look neater with just a single line onto the inlet mani

final caps arrived for the 8mm pipe under the inlet mani, so this is now capped off

turbo, downpipe, and TIP are now all properly screwed in. Not far to go now

 

[jamiebennett81]

So I started her up last night and she was running like a dog. Fuel was ******* out, and I found one of the braided fuel lines had been crushed, probably from when I was removing and reinstalling the inlet manifold some how. Replaced this and it was still running rough...I think this was due to air pockets some where, so I called it a night

I then tried restarting her today, and she started up fine, and ticked over nicely. Bit smoky initially, due to the new tubby, but this is going slowly.

So after 6 months, working on it through the ****** snow and freezing cold, she is finally alive. Unfortunately I had to jump start her from my Diesel so the sound of this drowns it out a bit, but still she is alive, and initial revving around 20 seconds on in the video

SERIOUSLY CHUFFED

MVI_0657.mp4 Video by jamiebennett81 | Photobucket

MOT and Tax next week

 

[jamiebennett81]

so got round to cleaning the interior tonight and cleaning off all the mould!

Used autoglym interior cleaner, really good stuff

Then took out the plastic centre that surrounded the handbrake. Unfortunately my knob was so mouldy I had to pull it off

Front seats back in finally

http://i253.photobucket.com/albums/hh67/jamiebennett81/FrontSeatsIn.jpg[img]

The front looking a lot cleaner

[img]http://i253.photobucket.com/albums/hh67/jamiebennett81/FrontSeats.jpg

I may extend the gear stick touring car style and fit a short shifter.....

All thats left now is to fit one pipe onto the catch can, but awaiting the fitting to arrive for the rocker cover, then its MOT time

 

[jamiebennett81]

Got round to ripping the final bits out of the back, the plastic lining near the rear pillars, plastic covering around the boot, and removed the rear door cards and speakers

I bought one of these also. A proper extinguisher. I'm not taking any chances

 

[jamiebennett81]

So bit of a nightmare at the moment. Had a right mare with the gear linkages, and they are still not right, but better than before slightly, although I don't have to push down to select reverse anymore, so will have to keep on trying with it

Then the part I had ordered for the AN fitting to the rocker cover was the wrong size so I could not finish off my catch can piping....at this point I thought sod it, and called it a night.

Not much progress again tonight, more measuring things up, and fitted a few resistors.

Current bodged piping for the catch can just to get it through it's MOT

The DV is too tight and sits right up against the metal pipe, and it is also kinking the silicon hose onto it, so I am going to run a 45 degree metal joiner and move the DV away from the TIP, so the silicon is not kinked

Split OEM pipe has finally had its day, but it got me through the MOT (probably explain why the engine management light came on)

Missing grill....old one has had it so bought a badgeless grill. Also ordered a new bonnet catch as the current one is screwed and it wont lock the bonnet properly

and finally the money shot

 

[jamiebennett81]

so, finally finished off the catch can tonight. I orginally ordered an AN12 finisher, but it was a straight one and I then realised because of the stiff piping, it was kinking which was my fault and I didn't think about this

so I then had to buy another AN12 connector but with a 45 degree bend, fitted nice and tight

The catch can is venting to air, and I found a perfect place to lay the pipe which sits between the engine mount and the battery block

I bought some engine bay cleaner earlier today and gave the engine a quick once over. Lots to do still and things to tidy up but this is how it stands at the moment

While cleaning, I then found this...

fecking **** filter. Got to contact them now, as filters can take a while to arrive I find, and its not far off the 8th June. Worst case scenario I have a crap filter that came on the car when I bought it back

Think I will just fork out the money and buy a green or proper Jetex filter off Bill

 

[jamiebennett81]

more updates to follow tomorrow.....

 

[Prawn]

Loving reading back through all the progress dude! I've followed it avidly on facebook and SSS over the last 18 months, but it's kinda cool looking at it all in 1 hit again and seeing how it moves forwards

Hurry up and get to the bit where I appear though

 

[jamiebennett81]

Loving reading back through all the progress dude! I've followed it avidly on facebook and SSS over the last 18 months, but it's kinda cool looking at it all in 1 hit again and seeing how it moves forwards

Hurry up and get to the bit where I appear though

yes, you are coming up at some point

 

[jamiebennett81]

New bonnet catch and I was missing a stud on the far right of the inlet manifold, so bought a set of these

Forgot I had this, carbon fiber coil pack cover. Gave it a quick clean and its come up really well from sitting in the garage for months!

ordered some blue anodised bolts for the carbon cover, coil packs, braided hoses and hose coupler, so a few bits going on next week

 

[jamiebennett81]

So got a few bits done on the car tonight

Phenolic gasket reinstalled. Now I didn't intend to put this back on, but I knew the far left stuf was missing. There is two studs on the left and right that hold the manifold on and the rest are bolts. So to do the job properly I had to remove the whole inlet manifold to get this stud in. What a fecking pain in the ***.

While it was off I couldn't reinstall the OEM gasket as it was foobarred and bent taking it off, so I thought I would reinstall the phenolic gasket again. WOW, what a ball ache. Because the gasket is so thick you literally have less than 1mm of thread left on the bolts to grip and screw in, which simply wasn't happening. For some reason I had a pack of bran new longer bolts. Where they came from I have no idea, but they were a god send

Gasket

Two types of OEM bolts. The longer bolt with 2mm more on the thread really is the difference with the bolts tightening and just turning

Part number for anyone interested

I then replaced the bonnet catch. For the first time in 6 months the bonnet now closes nicely

I then replaced the grill as the badget was fecked and snapped with a badgeless grill

I bought some braided hosing to replace the old hosing, as well as two hose couples too keep them tidy. Here is the cut and ready

I had some hose end tidiers, but on the old braided hoses they are much thinner and the new ones are much thicker, so these do not fit and I will have to order some new ones

I then got on with some more resistor crimping and tidying away the old cabling

 

[jamiebennett81]

Installed the new fuel lines

Thought I would opt for a bit of colour and went for the green hose finisher

Just waiting on some piping from Forge, 90 degree pipe joiners so I can relocate the DV and thats pretty much it until next Friday....

 

[jamiebennett81]

so went out for a test drive and it was blody lucky I did really

just turning into my estate and I literally heard a "ping", then the car would not move at all. I first thought the brakes had jammed on.

Rung the AA, and I had already taken the wheel off etc, so a nice easy job for him, tools out and ready also for him

He diagnosed the issue quickly and the track rod had snapped clean from the ball joint. The car would not move because one wheel was going in one direction and the other wheel was going in a different direction. With a bit of muscle, the AA guy manually turning the wheel as I drove the car slowly we got her parked up